The VTCRC announced that a new track focusing on biotechnology has been added to the October 16-17 VITAL Summit. The track was added after a grant was made by the Carilion Biomedical Institute CBI) to the VITAL Conference. Israeli manufacturers of biotech and biomedical products looking to enter the US will have a unique opportunity to meet with representatives of the CBI and other venture capitalists who specialize in biotechnology.

The CBI is a remarkable catalyst for far-reaching change. The Institute’s mission is to strengthen biomedical research at its partner universities by accelerating commercialization of research ideas into safe, superior healthcare products. By bringing together the worlds of academia, research, business, and community, the Institute creates positive changes in scientific research, the healthcare market, and patients’ lives. 
 
Founded by a $20 million grant from Carilion Health System, the Institute is a unique initiative that brings together Carilion Health System, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and other strategic partners.  The result is a world-class biomedical research and technology organization devoted to the development, clinical evaluation, and application of healthcare-related products and processes.
 
CBI’s mission is to promote promising biomedical research at its partner institutions by funding research and providing the guidance and support needed to transfer the technology breakthroughs into products that benefit people.  CBI promotes early-stage research that is unlikely to receive funding from large agencies or industry.  By providing seed funding, CBI enables companies to test their best ideas, giving them the initial data needed to pursue more substantial grants from agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.  CBI builds relationships with corporations and other groups with an interest in supporting research that complements their objectives. 

CBI works closely with researchers during the early stages of their research to help them understand the issues involved in commercialization helping them make decisions at every juncture of the research process thus increasing their opportunities to successfully commercialize the product resultant from the research.  CBI works with the patent offices at Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia to offer advice and counsel to researchers concerning the intellectual property (IP).  The goal of all concerned is to ensure the IP is well protected, while allowing university researchers to publish and present their work.  CBI assists in writing disclosures and patents prior to publication, thereby protecting the IP rights in the US and foreign markets.
 
The addition of this track is very timely.  Israel's biotechnology industry has been characterized as an infant with huge potential.  According to the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade web site, “the country's biotechnology sector encompasses nearly 150 companies including 40 incubator projects.  Most of the companies are small start-ups…active in all areas of biotechnology including the development of bio-therapeutic drugs, platform technologies, diagnostics and agricultural biotechnology.”
 
In a letter published on the Ministry’s web site, Amir Hayek, Director General, said that Israel's biotechnology industry can claim a larger slice of the global biotechnology market which is growing by an estimated 12% per year and should be worth $40 billion by 2004. In 2000, Israel's biotechnology sector enjoyed record sales of $800 million.
 
Israel has all the ingredients for a flourishing biotechnology sector, the letter said, including a work force with one of the highest percentages of academically trained scientists anywhere in the world.  Israel's universities and colleges place great emphasis on the life sciences and the country has strong traditions in both medicine and agriculture.  All surveys suggest that the long-term financial rewards can be highly profitable.  Productivity in this sector is high, employing 3,500 people in Israel today, a number which could increase to 10,000 - 14,000 by 2010.
 
For full text of the letter, please visit http://www.irc.org.il/biotech/Hayek.htm.